ARMY AL&T


TABLE 1


Legacy thick wall primer


Total number of Primer Critical Defects Number of body segments Paper liner


design features


Key


Lacquer plugs Plastic liner Black powder


HERO ignition element


Non-HERO ignition element Benite


legacy electric primer from 14 to seven for the one-piece HERO primer variant.


Since the issuance of DOD MIL-STD-464, all new lots of tank ammunition required a waiver for not meeting the HERO requirement. In 2015, the HERO ignition element assembly qual- ified on the M1002 and M865 cartridges, but due to extenuating circumstances, there were issues in incorporating the HERO primer into tank cartridges at that time.


In 2016, PM MAS stopped waiving the requirement. Subse- quently, the XM1147 Advanced Multipurpose and the M865A1 cartridge programs both qualified with HERO primers. Both programs conducted life-cycle testing to ensure reliability and survivability of the cartridge systems and became the first lots with HERO primers in tank ammunition inventory. Additionally, the new M865A1 kinetic energy tank training cartridge quali- fied in 2021 with the one-piece HERO primer (Figure 5). Tis will allow the incorporation of the same primer into the M1002 High Explosive Anti-Tank trainer tank cartridge.


16 3


Yes Yes No


Yes No


Yes Yes


2-piece HERO primer


14 3


No No


Yes No


Yes No


Yes


1-piece HERO primer


7 1


No No


Yes No


Yes No


Yes


CONCLUSION PM MAS strives to enhance the lethality, reliability and perfor- mance of tank cartridges. Individual component improvements can be a major step forward in performance, and the HERO primer is an example of that. Te legacy tank ammunition primer had been in production for many years with relatively little advancement and an archaic manufacturing process. Te HERO primer reduces manufacturing time, number of parts, critical defects and overall production costs. Most importantly, the HERO primer improves the safety of our 120 mm Abrams tank ammunition for our Soldiers.


For more information on MIL-STD-464C, go to: https://tinyurl. com/5zbsr83z.


HJALMAR “JAY” CANELA is the item manager for the 120 mm Tank Training Ammunition at the Joint Program Executive Office for Armaments and Ammunition, PM MAS. He holds an M.S. in mechanical engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology, and is Level III certified in engineering.


An investigation of a 2002 tank fire at Fort Hood, Texas, led Picatinny engineers to discover that tank cartridges were very susceptible to initiation by radio frequencies if the primer was in contact with any of the electrodes of the electronics in the tank.


https://asc.ar my.mil 65


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